Titus is an epistle of Paul. And it was written to Titus,
who was a pastor. And it's instructing Titus in
those things that Titus must hold to, that he must affirm
constantly, that he must speak constantly and teach constantly. And Titus chapter 2 begins, He had just written to Titus
concerning those who are unruly and vain talkers,
those who are deceivers, those who speak of words of faithfulness
and commitment and godliness, but who manifest none of those
things by their actions. And he says that those who are pure, those who
are called by God's grace, who've been given a new heart are pure. Whatever they eat, whatever they
drink, whatever they do, it's pure because their conscience
has been purged by the blood of Christ. They have been forgiven
all their iniquity, all their sin in the very presence of God
by the blood of Christ. And all of their work is accepted
in Christ Jesus. So it's not that which goes into
the mouth that defiles a man. It's that which comes out of
the heart. And to those who are pure, they're pure in heart.
Those who are defiled, he said, nothing is pure. Even their mind
and conscience is defiled. Their inward man is defiled.
And therefore, everything they do is defiled. But, he says,
don't be as those men. Speak thou, verse 1, the things
which become sound doctrine. Now in verses 1 through 10, he
tells us what these becoming things are. And at the end of
verse 10, he tells us why to instruct the believer in these
things. And he tells us who it is that
this applies to. He says there in verse 10, at
the end there, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior in all things. That's why these things are set
forth, to adorn, because they're becoming to the doctrine that
we say we believe. To adorn the doctrine of our
God. This is written to those whom
God chose in Christ before the world began. This is written
to those for the exhortation and teaching of those who were
redeemed by the blood of Christ. This is written to those who
were called by the Holy Spirit, by His power and grace, who have
been made anew in Christ Jesus. This is written to you believers
who stand complete through faith in Christ, who are justified
of all sin, who are pardoned of all sin, who are purged of
all sin, who stand complete in Christ Jesus the Lord. We know
clearly what we were. We know what we were in ourselves. In chapter 3, verse 3, he says,
we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving different lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful
and hating one another. This is who we are by nature. But, after that, the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Not by works of
righteousness which we have done. That's not why He appeared. That's
not why He wrought this work of grace in us. But, according
to His mercy, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us, not sparingly,
but abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being
justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. And He says, now this is a faithful
saying, And these things I will that thou affirm constantly,
that they which have believed in God, You believers here might
be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable
unto men. And he told us there in chapter
2, it's to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. in these first 10 verses of chapter
2, he gives us these things particularly and speaks to every one of us
here. He includes everybody in the church, every believer in
the church, no matter who they are, what their station is, he
includes everybody, every believer in the church. And these things,
when the Spirit of God's working in our hearts. These things will
cause us to hear the Word that's coming to us in each one of these
applications. And it will cause us to be humbled
in our hearts. It will cause us to behold not
a haughtiness and promote a pride in us because we see in these
things we haven't fulfilled these things. We've fallen far short
of these things. It's our desire, it's our privilege
by His grace if He's working in us to do these things, but
those who haven't had that work of grace in their heart, those
who have, what are they description? They're foolish, they're disobedient,
they're deceived, they're serving different lusts and pleasures,
they're living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one
another. When they hear these things, They'll be looking at
you, and me, and everybody else, but numero uno. They won't be
looking at number one. And by that, they'll be lifted
up in pride, thinking, I've done my part. And they'll think, with
a critical spirit, that they had done their part. So these
things are meant for you. Wherever you fall into this group,
it's for you to examine yourself. And wherever I fall in this,
it's for me to examine myself. And that's where we stand, before
God. Now let's look at these things
together. First of all, he speaks a word to the aged men. These
are men who are up in years. An aged man doesn't necessarily
mean a man who is a long time in the faith. An aged woman doesn't
necessarily mean a woman who is a long time in the faith.
Not necessarily, but these are aged men who've been in the faith
for some time. And aged women who've been in
the faith for some time. He says here that the aged men
be sober, grave, temperate. These words mean Sober means
vigilant. The scripture you just read,
Scott, in Peter's epistle, he said, be sober, be vigilant. These are the same thing. It
means to be very serious, be very careful, be very careful,
be grave, be temperate, be careful, watchful, be grave, be serious,
and be temperate, be sensible, very, very sensible. Sound in faith, in charity, in
patience. Sound in faith means sound, it
means steadfast. Steadfast in faith, trusting
Christ alone for all your salvation. Steadfast, not looking upon the
outward man, not trusting in the outward man, not looking
upon the outward man of others, looking upon Christ Jesus the
Lord in whom we stand complete. It means sound in commitment
to the gospel of Christ Jesus. It means steadfast in the example
we set before the young ones and others in the church and
out of our faithfulness to the commitment of the gospel of Christ,
the public worship of Christ. It means sound. It means sound
in charity, in love. Love always seeks to put the
best frame, puts the best thought and the best appearance and justifies
those whom we love. That's true. Sound in love. Sound in love. Loving those whom
God has everlastingly loved. Loving the things God loves.
Loving as God loves. in patience. That means persevering. That means enduring every trial. It means not being carried away
by the cares of this world, not being carried away by the trial,
not being carried away with these things that want to interfere
with our service to God and our worship of God and our commitment
to God and our brethren. Sound, persevering, in patience. The aged women likewise. that
they be in behavior as becometh holiness, or as becometh holy
women, those who are called by God's grace, those who stand
complete in Christ, not false accusers. Gossip and a lot of
talk about folks usually includes false accusations. It's generally
what it's about. Most of what we have in the news
these days is that. It's gossip. Really all the news
is is gossip. Not given too much wine. Teachers
of good things. Same here as he said to the aged
men. Sober, grave, temperate, sound
in faith and charity and patience. Teachers of good things. That
they may, and this teaching is obviously not in the pulpit,
it's in the home, it's in our association with one another.
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to be wise,
to love their husbands, to love their children. This is the bride of Christ. The bride
of Christ who is called by God's grace to church has a responsibility
and a privilege to honor Christ our husband. And everything we
say and everything we do, our desire is to honor Him who loved
us and gave Himself for us. This is the exhortation to the
wife. To love her husband, there's
been submission and subjection to him. To love their children. These are, just as in the church,
the children that are born of God, the children who are called
by God's grace, those whom He's everlastingly loved, are the
product, they're the creation of God the Father. He put them
in Christ Jesus before the world began. They're the product of
our everlasting Father, Christ Jesus, the last Adam, who came
and lived and died and redeemed every particular elect child
of God. It made them perfect before God,
and through His Spirit, through the Word of God, through the
incorruptible seed, they're born, and they're His children. Even
so, with the wife, the children are the husband's children, and
they're to be treated as the husband's children. Love their
children. to be discreet, chaste, keepers
at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of
God be not blasphemed." Discreet means, in a word, not being boisterous,
being discreet. If the husband's present and
the question's asked, defer to the husband. He's the head of
the house, he'll answer the question. Ladylike. Ladylike. That's what, just how we'd say
ladylike. Be a lady. Keepers at home. This is, there are many things
that must be done by the wife in the home and outside of the
home, but it's still keeping home, the home. You know, in
the days of the scriptures, We like to put our culture on these
things. And for instance, we like to
say in our day that in our culture, the woman ought to be in the
house. She ought not be out working. In the days of the scriptures,
the woman gathered the firewood. She gathered the sticks and things
to burn in the fire. In our culture, I wouldn't expect
my wife to go out and gather the firewood. I'm going to gather
the firewood. So we can't look at these things
in terms of necessarily what our culture is. We're at a point
in this day and time to where the woman can be keeping the
home and actually helping to keep the home, working outside
of the home. It doesn't necessarily mean that
she can't work outside the home, but it does mean her chief primary
responsibility is to be the keeper of that home. To do those things
which are necessary to be a help me. That's the case with the
church. We see it in Adam. Adam was put
to sleep. Christ Jesus, when He died on
the cross, and that spear was shoved into His side, and that
water came out, out of His side, out of His blood, out of what
He did, came His bride. And that's what it was with Adam.
He was put to sleep and out of his side the wife was taken. She came out and she was given
to Christ to be a helpmate, to Adam to be a helpmate. And so
the body of believers that are called by God's grace into the
church of God, who are the bride, are given to be keepers of this
home right here. This is his church. This is the
home. This is the household of God.
And we're all keepers of that home or keepers of this home.
We do many things outside of this house. But at the same time,
we're keeping this house and everything we do. And so it is
with the woman. She has a job to do in the house. And some of it may involve being
outside of the house. But the main thing here is the
opposite of this is to just be going about abroad, being as
the old The old language would say, I gather about. Going about
just living frivolously for pleasure and being in this and that and
over here and this. That's the opposite of this. Keepers at
home. Alright, and he says here, obedient to their own husbands,
whatever it is that he is needful of, this is what we're talking
about. We're looking at being obedient to Christ, our husband. And in the course of this, he
says, now, wives, be obedient to your husband. Let the word
of God be not blasphemed. This is the purpose. We're adorning
the doctrine we claim to believe. It creates submission in the
hearts of his people. And that's what we're dealing
with here. All right. Young men, likewise. He says
to Titus, exhort them to be sober minded, to be discreet just as
these others. I remember as a young believer,
I could remember thinking when I would hear salvation is not
by works, when I would hear that we're saved by grace, not by
works of righteousness which we have done. I could remember
thinking, I could remember thinking when I first began to hear this
message that what I do and what I say is not all that important. But it is that important. It
really is important. What we do and say, how we live
in this world is very important. He says, in all things, showing
thyself a pattern of good works. Now he's talking to Titus, the
pastor. We've covered the aged men. We've
covered the aged women. We've covered the young men.
Now we're coming to the pastor. He says, in all things, showing
thyself a pattern of good works. It's not enough to preach this
gospel. I have to show myself a pattern of what I'm preaching.
I have to go about showing myself a pattern of what it is I teach
you. If I teach you about patience, I got to be patient. I got to
set that example. If I teach you about giving,
I need to be giving. If I teach you about visiting
those that are sick, I need to be visiting the sick. If I teach
you about looking out for the welfare of one another, I need
to be looking out for your welfare. I need to do that. in doctrine
showing uncorruptness, this is the gospel preached, showing
uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned. I know that Sometimes, as we've
talked, and I've said to some here about how guarded I am about
what I say and how I want to make sure that what I say I can
support with the Scriptures and what I can say is from the Word
of God. And I have experienced on occasion some, and I know
everybody means well by this, but saying to me that, you know,
you can't, people are going to twist what you say no matter
how you say it. And I understand that. I do understand
that. But I get the emails, and I see
how it's being twisted. I see what's being said. And
I see where I could have said that in a way that it couldn't
have been misconstrued. And so I'm constantly ever aware
of that, and I'm constantly trying to make sure when I say what
I say that it's supported. And let men take it as far as
they want. Let men say with it what they
want to say. I'm not concerned about that, but I don't want
to be the one who gave them the occasion to do it. You understand
that? So, and here's the reason for
all of this, and I think for the aged men, the aged women,
for the young men, and for the preacher too, that he that is
of the contrary part may be ashamed having no evil thing to say of
you. Now, speaks to servants. employers
in our day, as we would say. Exhort servants to be obedient
unto their own masters and to please them well in all things,
not answering again, not talking back. Who is our master? Our master is Christ Jesus the
Lord. He's our master. He put the powers
that be where they are. He put them there. And in fact,
what we say and do to those who are our immediate supervisors,
we're saying and doing to our Lord. He said, whatever you do,
whatever you say, do all things as unto the Lord. It's that real. That's who we're doing these
things unto is our Master. We have one Master. But as we
are going about our daily affairs and working in our business and
in the various places we are, it's all important that we're
obedient to them, that we please them well in all things. You know, I can remember When
I first entered into the job force, and I can remember working,
I can remember my friends who had been working for a while
and, and, you know, they would press upon you how it's just
not cool. Just not cool to, to be overly
eager to please the boss, because then everybody around you is
gonna think that you're just kissing up to the boss. And if you haven't experienced
that, it's a very real thing, and you will, and your children
will. But here's what God says about it. Please your masters
well in all things. Go above and beyond. Go above
and beyond. Not answering again. Not doing
it and then turning around and talking about them. Not questioning
them. Just do what they say do. And
he says here, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity.
Not doing things when the boss is around, and then when he's
not around, you go back around behind the pallet somewhere and
take a nap. But showing all good fidelity. All good fidelity. That's the word that's used,
the righteousness of God is manifest by the faithfulness of Christ,
the faith of Christ, the fidelity of Christ. He said, I must be
about my father's business. He said, I came not to do mine
own will, but the will of him that sent me. He said, it's my
meat, it's my bread to do the will of my father. And he, from
his first hour to his last hour, was doing those things which
were well-pleasing unto his master, his father. And he's teaching
us here through this word to do the same thing as unto him. Now he says here at the end of
verse 10, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior
in all things. That's what Paul said to Titus
in that first one. Speak thou the things which are
becoming an adorning to sound doctrine. The sound doctrine
is the gospel we preach. The sound doctrine is ruined
by the fall. It's redemption by the blood.
It's regeneration by the Spirit of God. This is the sound doctrine
we preach. It's the preservation of God. It's the keeping of God,
the calling of God. It's God alone who saves to the
uttermost, who's able to raise his children Without spot and
without blemish, to be with Him forever and eternity. Raise our
bodies and our spirit and our soul together with Him in the
last day. This is sound doctrine, and these are the things that
adorn that doctrine. Now, why? Why do we do these
things? Verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men. teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world. The grace of God that bringeth
salvation is a person. The grace of God that bringeth
salvation is Christ Jesus. God has spoken in times past
in various manners, in different ways, but He's spoken in these
last days, these days in which we live. He has spoken by His
Son. His Son is the Word. His Son
is the Gospel. His Son is the message we preach. His Son is the one who has brought
salvation. He's brought salvation. He is
that salvation. He's life. He's the way. He's the truth. And He's brought
it. He's brought it near. And He has appeared to all men. Has He appeared to all men without
exception? Has He appeared to all men in
the sense that He's brought salvation to all men? Not at all. But to
all to whom this is addressed, He has. He's appeared to you. He's been made manifest in your
heart by the revelation of God Almighty. This is the Gospel. This is why Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the Gospel of God. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. It has appeared. It has been
made manifest to every one of His sheep whom He's called. This
Gospel is real. It's come to you. The grace of
God has come to you. It's brought salvation to you.
That means there's nothing left for you to do. There's nothing
left for you to do to obtain this salvation. He's brought
it to you. He did. This one whom Paul is
exhorting Titus to teach the believer to serve, Christ the
Lord. He's the one that's brought it
to you. Brought it to you. And now he
says, and he's taught us that denying ungodliness, and worldly
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this
present world. What is this ungodliness and
what is this worldly lust? It's everything that's contrary
and opposite to these things we're teaching. It's not being
obedient to your master. It's not being faithful to your
employees. You know what the scripture says?
The scripture says you give to your employees at the end of
the day. At the end of the day. What they've
earned. At the end of the day. Do we
do that? We give it to them maybe at the
end of the week, maybe every two weeks. Maybe at the end of
the month, some jobs pay you quarterly. And we give to God
that way. He said at the first of the week.
You know why that's important? I would never put a restraint
on anybody. I would never say this is, we're
not under the law, we're under grace. The grace of God has appeared. This is our motivation, the grace
of God to us. But you know why first things
first are important? As God says, first things first
are? Because we're constantly reminded first who is the first. We're reminded that Christ is
the preeminent. We're reminded He's the firstfruits.
We're reminded He's the best God has, and the best God has
provided, and the best that God will accept. We're reminded in
all these things He commands us to put first, we're reminded
of Him who is first. Christ Jesus the Lord. and this
ungodliness and this worldly lust. The point I'm making here
about how we don't do these things in the world is everything in
this world is teaching us to totally disregard these things
that ought to be first and preeminent in our lives. Everything about
this world is teaching us that. And we become numb to it. We
begin to think, this is how it ought to be done. If I'm going
to sell a product, I expect somebody to come over here and give me
some incentive. If I'm going to push your product
in my business, come over here and pad my pocket a little bit.
Take me out to eat. Do something for me. In the days
of old, days in this country when music first started, they
had what they called payola. It's illegal now in the music
industry, but it's not illegal everywhere else. If you wanted
a record to get played, you showed up at that radio station and
you gave the DJ and the station owner incentive to play that
record. In some way, a trip, some money, something. That's
illegal now in that business, but it's not illegal everywhere
else. And our whole system that we live in, in this world, is
teaching us worldly lusts are good. This is how you're going
to get ahead. This is how you're going to get
ahead. God teaches us to deny those things. Deny them. You
know, the scripture is so clear to us. on all these things, so
easily understandable. Everybody here, even if you believe
God or don't believe, you understand what I'm saying and what Paul
is teaching to us. These are easily understandable,
simple instructions. And what God is teaching us is
that which is true and that which God has commanded and that which
God has given you a heart to perform because you're motivated
by this grace of God that has brought salvation to you. It's
right, and it's best, and God will bless it. And you will not
necessarily have what the world has, but by the same token, you
won't have what the world's going to have. This is the best the
world's got. The best the ungodly in the world
they have is what they have right now. Right now. They are swine
being fattened for slaughter. You want to be swine fattened
for slaughter? Live contrary to what God has said, what God
has commanded in His Word. And that will be the case. Swine
fattened for slaughter. He says here, He's taught us this by this grace.
We know, and this is simple, what we're hearing here, we know
so. You know how we know it so? This
is what we try to teach our children to do. Isn't it? Everything here is what we try
to teach our children. Just naturally speaking, we want our children
to be this way toward us and toward others. And then toward
God, we'll put on a form of godliness and deny the power thereof and
not do the things He's told us to do. Just simple. Just simple. Here's how we do it. It's motivated
by the grace that's brought salvation to us, by what He's taught us,
by what our faithful God has taught us, our faithful Savior
has taught us. And here's another motive, verse 13. Looking. We do these things looking for
that blessed hope. and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. You know, if all our hope is,
is what we'll have in this world, then we'll do these things from
a mercenary spirit, seeking a reward, a debt owed, because we think
if we do these things, God's going to give us something. That's not the grace of God.
We do these things because we're looking for a hope that's not
in this world. We have a treasure that's not
the riches of this world. We have something that is in
heaven's glory and that's what we look for. We have a good hope. We have a hope that's grown in
us by experience. How many times have you faltered
in these things, you've failed in these things, you've found
yourself being totally disobedient in everything that God teaches
us here, and yet God has chastened you by His faithful hand, corrected
you by His hand, taught you by His hand, ordered all things
in providence to show you these truths and say to you, this is
the way, walk ye in it. And that just does one thing,
experience grows this hope that our God's real, that our God's
seated in the heavens, that our God has accomplished our salvation,
that our God has everlastingly loved us, that our God will see
to it as a faithful father, that his household is in order and
he will have his children saved, kept from the evil of this ungodly,
lustful world. Doesn't it just increase? And
it causes you to look more diligently for that hope. And that hope,
that hope of eternal life, that hope of eternal inheritance,
that hope, our eternal reward, what is it? Verse 13, the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. This
is one. The great God and our Savior
Jesus Christ is one. When He appears, we're not going
to see multiple. We're going to see one. We're
going to see our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. That's who we're going to see
when He appears. That's who we're looking for.
We're looking for Him to come and He's going to do something
when He comes. He's going to come and He is going to separate
the wheat from the chaff. He's going to vindicate us. He's going to say, well done,
my good and faithful servant. He's going to say, I was hungry
and you fed me. I was thirsty and you brought
me water. I was in prison and you visited me. And you're going to say, when
did I ever do any of those things? And that chaff is going to sit
there and say, when did we not do those things? I was talking
to Brother Don this week, and he was telling me, an old friend
of his told him this. He said, you know, the wheat
and the chaff won't be separated until the last day. And he said,
you know how you tell wheat from chaff? It's just a friend told
Brother Don this. And he said, I don't know. And
he said, you don't know until harvest time. And he said, the
difference between the wheat and chaff is this. The chaff
stands up tall and straight and the wheat bows down. You think that's by accident. God made the wheat and the chaff
that way out there in the field. That's so with God's people.
The glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ will be to
separate the weak from the chaff. It will be to vindicate those
whom he's everlastingly loved, those whom he's redeemed, to
show that their faithfulness is by the faith of Christ. That
God receives them sanctified, holy, and without blame in him.
And it'll be to give his people a crown. crown of righteousness,
being perfectly conformed to the image of Christ Jesus the
Lord, being perfectly made one with the Son, that which we've
been predestinated to from before the foundation of the world,
that very doctrine that the world hates to us has an end, just
like every other doctrine has an end, just like the law has
an end, just like this life has an end. It's all this. to be
conformed to the image of His Son, crowned with the righteousness
of life. No sin, no tears, no sorrow,
nothing that hinders us now, but a crown of righteousness. And you know what the Scripture
says we're going to do with those crowns? We're going to take them and
throw them at His feet and say, all honor and glory and praise
and dominion be to you forever and ever. Oh, you know, do you understand
that? He crowns you. He's saying to you, oh, well
done. That's righteousness, saying
that to His people. And righteousness in return takes
those crowns and throws them at His feet and says, oh, righteousness
and honor and praise to you. That's being made one with Him.
lifting up one another, praising one another, being gloriously
satisfied and content and one with each other in a way that
I honestly can't even comprehend right now. That's our hope and
that's what we're waiting on, that glorious appearing. Glorious appearing. And he says,
and this one is he who gave himself for us. You see, what he's telling us
here is quite simply this. Give yourself for him who gave
himself for you. Is that the constraint? Is that
what constrains you? He gave himself for you. He didn't just give His riches. He didn't just give His providence. He didn't just give His earth. He didn't just give His substance. We can do that, all those things,
and never give ourselves to Christ. He gave Himself for us. When God gave His Son, God gave
Himself for us. When Christ laid down His life,
He gave Himself for us. He says, and He did it that He
might redeem us from all iniquity. The Scripture says that God,
by His blood, purchased. That's what the word redeemed
means. He purchased. He made a transaction,
a purchase. And the debt that was owed was
that He be made what His people are. The debt that was owed is that
He stand in every way right in the place of His people. Being
regarded and being made what His people are. And that's what
our Savior did. We get upset at somebody because
they've rebuked us. or because they're in the wrong,
or because there's some sin. We get upset at those things. We think we've been unjustly
treated. We get upset at those things. Christ Jesus did no sin. He knew
no sin. There was no iniquity in Him,
ever, in any regard whatsoever. And rather than then throw it
back in the teeth of his people. This one who was absolutely pure
and perfect in thought, word and deed, in very nature, gave himself. And he took our
sin upon himself. You remember when, with Philemon,
and you remember that letter Paul writes to Philemon? What
was the slave's name? I can't remember it now. Onesimus. Onesimus had left and he was
a slave under Philemon. And he had left Philemon. And he stole from Philemon. He
took from Philemon. And in the course of all of that,
he ended up at Rome where Paul was. And Paul preached the gospel
to him. And God called him by his power and grace and created
him anew. Made him bow and trust Christ.
And Paul wrote a letter back to Philemon, and he told Philemon,
he said, he said, I could bring up things that you owe me, Philemon,
but I'm not going to do that. He said, all I ask you is you
receive Onesimus, and if he has offended you in any way, if he
owes you anything whatsoever, Paul said, charge that to my
account. Put it on me. I'll stand in his
place and I'll pay whatever that boy owes to you. You just receive
him back. That's what Christ did for us.
And he's telling us right here, do that for each other. Do that
for each other. Scott just read out of Peter
there, submit yourselves one to another. Everything that's
spoken of right here, in these first 10 verses could be summed
up this way. Submit yourselves one to another
and humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, casting all
your care upon him for he careth for you. And that's what he said. This is what we're looking for.
This is that glorious appearing we're looking for, for the Christ
Jesus who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from
all iniquity. And not only that, but purify
He's purged and he's purified his people unto himself, unto himself, a peculiar people,
a chosen people, an elect people, a particular people, a peculiar
people, not odd, not folks who want to look like they're peculiar
and different from everybody else, a peculiar people, a chosen
people. What sets them apart? They're
zealous of good works. Well, the Pharisees were zealous
of good works. Yep, but they weren't purified. Paul said they have a zeal of
God, I bear them record, but it's not according to the knowledge
of God. They're going about to establish
their own righteousness. Everything they're saying about
these things is to say, God's going to either call you righteous
by these things, or He's going to say that you're sanctified
by these things, or He's going to give you a better reward if
you do these things. All of that is not according
to knowledge. Having begun in the spirit, are
you now made perfect by the flesh? That's not what Paul's telling
Titus here. He's saying we do these things
because we're motivated by grace. And this is what sets us apart
from this world. This is what makes us peculiar
to this world. We're sanctified by faith that's
in Christ Jesus. We know we're holy and accepted
and complete in Him. As He is in Heaven's glory, so
are we in this earth. Zealous for good works. Nothing
else. That's peculiar. That's different. That is different from this world. And he says here in verse 15,
these things speak and exhort and rebuke with all
authority and let no man despise thee. Usually, this work is wrought
in the hearts of His people, majority of the time through
the preaching of the gospel. He humbles us, He brings us to
see what great things Christ has done for us, and He causes
us to desire Him. I try my best to sprinkle these
very exhortations in the messages I preach. I don't wait till the
end and just then lay into you with these things. Throughout
the message, I'm constantly bringing this home and saying, these are
the things that this causes us to do in this life. If you hear
this message consistently, you'll hear that and you'll be grounded
and not tossed to and fro. That's what this gospel does.
There are times in Scripture where we see that there has to
be a word of rebuke, spoken particularly to people. Paul handled this
very, this word of rebuke, it's an interesting word, rebuke.
To those who are goats, this word of rebuke is charged to
God's preachers this way. Look back there, verse 11. Talk about those unruly vain
talkers, deceivers. He says, whose mouths must be
stopped. It's a harsh thing. Comes across
as a harsh thing to those. To God's saints, you remember
how the church at Corinth was so out of line. They were so
carnal. I know this weird religious world thinks that when you really
get down and just talk about these things right here, that's
a growth in grace. Paul told the church at Corinth,
he said, I came to you determined to know nothing among you but
Jesus Christ whom you crucified, but you're so carnal you can't
hear the message. So I got to talk to you like babies and I
got to say don't do this and do this and stop doing that.
He didn't say that was maturity, he said it's immaturity. It's
very opposite of what this world calls maturity. But do you realize
what was going on in the church at Corinth? There was a man there
who was supposed to be a preacher. And that man was having an incestuous
relationship with his father's bride. And Paul said, that man's
got to be put down. That man's got to be rooted out.
He's got to be removed because it's going to cause total chaos
in this church. Do you realize? What most preaching
throughout the history of this world and in this day is, it's
men taking the things of their heavenly Father, going into His
household, using His very riches to seduce His bride and commit
spiritual fornication with them. And it's got to be rebuked. Can't
be. Can't be. But Paul rebuked them
with all authority this way. He wrote them a letter and he
said, wouldn't you rather me come to you in love than with
a rod? Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? Don't
you? Aren't you much more moved as
a child of God, as a sheep? A goat has to be driven. And
he has to be driven out. A sheep has got to be dealt with
gently, patiently, and kindly. Turned, yes. Rebuked, yes. With all authority, yes. But
why did Paul do it? He did it in such a loving, tender
manner, didn't he? Such a loving, tender manner.
He did it through the gospel. And those who are God's children, They don't think about some time
when God's preacher or God's children rebuke them and then
brag about how they overcame that rebuke and keep telling
that story time and time again. You know what they do? They turn
and they forget those things which are behind and reach forth
to that which is before. That's the whole purpose of the
rebuke. And when we've been rebuked, when we've been turned from ungodliness
and worldly lusts, we're turned from ourselves and our haughtiness
and our pride and we look to Christ and we're humbled under
His mighty hand and we cast our care on Him and we follow Him.
We follow Him. Well, He says, let no man despise
thee. Don't conduct ourselves in a
way that men are going to despise us. And when we have to, when
we speak these things, this is God's Word. No reason for anybody
to despise these things. This is God's Word. Every bit
of this is God's Word. So, I hope it's a blessing to
you. And I hope that you, it's profitable
and it's good for us. And I try my best to affirm it
constantly, to affirm it constantly to you. I generally do it by
preaching more on Christ and sprinkling these things in there
in the midst. Tonight we looked at these things
particularly and sprinkled in the work of our Savior in the
midst. That's generally not how I go about it, but that's all
right. It's all right, it's just God's Word. I hope it's a blessing
to you.